Tag: Political Leadership

What is the big fuss if Aam Aadmi Party Chief, Arvind Kejriwal, travels in a business class? After all, economy class to business class is a great transition. And “Aam Aadmi” to “Khaas Aadmi” is a great change and transformation. It seems Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are taking the help of a Brand Consultant and Image Consultant. There is a lot of change in the image makeover and brand image of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. The party chief has moved in the brand makeover of these aspects of the brand: transformed from an ordinary activist to an Aam Aadmi Party Chief, moved from being a simple person to a 49 day Delhi Chief Minister, moved from an ordinary house to a big government bungalow, moved from travelling in a small car to flying in a business class. Arvind Kejriwal is no more only an activist now. He is no more only an anti-corruption crusader. He is now moving in the domain of a Business Leadership. He is trying to strengthen and leverage his brand with Business Leadership and Political Leadership.

Indian resources are becoming very important in the world of business and economy today. Investors and Venture Capitalists from all over the world are finding various ways and means of investing their money in the Indian economy through various ideologies. Money and investment is coming into India from all possible directions and in all domains of the leadership – Business, Social, Political, and Spiritual. The people of India should have a close watch on all these developments. The whole thing should not lead us to the earlier situation of an East India Company coming to India and ruling on us from behind.

The opposition parties are saying that this is a double standard and a camouflage. That he talks one thing and does another thing. That his ideology is not clear. That he talks the language of an Aam Aadmi and then does the actions of a Khaas Aadmi. The Aam Aadmi Party defends this saying that the business class ticket has been sponsored by the sponsors and also Arvind Kejriwal was not feeling well and was not in a position to travel in an economy class. However, Arvind Kejriwal himself has clarified this position while addressing the participants in the seminar in Dubai. He said the dream of AAP is to make every Aam Aadmi be able to travel in a business class.

The most important things in business and politics are of trust and transparency. And while increasing the value of their brands, the Business Leaders and Political Leaders should pay attention to these attributes that go a long way in making their brands stronger and smarter.

The final results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have been released by the Election Commission of India. The results were published for the 543 member Lok Sabha by the Election Commission of India on their website.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone could secure 282 votes. And the final tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the alliance that went to the polls together, is 336. These numbers have never been achieved by the party and the alliance in the past. These numbers are historic and set a new benchmarking. The Congress Party could, however, secure only 44 seats. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could make the final tally to 59 seats. The other parties together account to 145 seats.

And to form a government any party or formation needs 272 seats.

And finally the “Lotus” blooms !! The miracle of the Narendra Modi (NaMo) leadership is that it has given the BJP a nation-wide sweep and has also increased their vote share to a new mark. The BJP vote share has gone up from 18.8% in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 31% in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. On the other hand the Congress’ vote share has decreased from 28.6% to 19.3%.

The people of India have given their verdict and they have also given an opportunity to the BJP and NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi (NaMo) to bring development and give good governance. And all this has to be proved objectively with enough empirical data and figures. And if the leadership is able to do all this with enough objectivity then nobody can stop NaMo for the second term as PM. Indeed, the challenging times are ahead.

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Plato

Plato is so pertinent in the above observation. The elections are round the corner all over India. A new leadership and a new government is in the offing. The people of the country must participate in large numbers to choose best of the leaders. Please always remember that there are only two choices: One is to lead, and the other is to get led. And the only answer is “Better Management” and “Better Leadership”. And all this is possible by choosing good leaders.

What do you want? Do you want an inferior to lead you? If you go by the statistics and information available with the Election Commission, about 30% of the elected representative to the parliament and the assemblies have criminal records. Some have even heinous criminal charges. And the above trend is increasing and not decreasing. And if the same trend continues, a day is not far when we all are governed and led by criminals. Can we really hope this to happen? What kind of ecosystem we are creating for the present youngsters and for the new ones to come in the future?

Please also note that excercising one’s vote is not only a right but also a great responsibility. If the people are not wise in choosing their representatives, then only inferior ones will rule and govern the people and the country. All power is of the people. All power is for the people. And all power is by the people. The highest power lies with the people. And the responsibility of the government is just to serve the people. It is, therefore, rightly said that the Constitution is OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people. This is the true power of the democracy.

Life is a mystery and it can never be defined. It can only be lived and experienced. We can learn the life leadership lessons from great people. Life throws many challenges and may give rise to many leadership roles. And some major leadership roles are: Technology Leadership, Business Leadership, Political Leadership, Social Leadership, and Spiritual Leadership.

Business Leadership:

A value that benefits only a few and not many. “A value is a difference of the cost of output and input.”

Richard Branson says, “I wanted to be an editor or a journalist, I wasn’t really interested in being an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.”

Business Leadership is to create a value in the form of products, services, and solutions, and share these values for an exchange.

Technology Leadership:

A leadership that creates a technology that leverages the power of the above values. “The technology is neutral. It absolutely depends on us as to how we use the same.”

Technology plays an important role in the life and growth of people. The technology is neutral and it all depends on us as to how we use the same. A knife can be used to cut an apple or one’s own hand. And it can also be used in an operation theatre by a doctor to save the life of a person.

Political Leadership:

A leadership that allows the use of power to create the above values.

This is what Jimi Hendrix says, “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

The whole purpose of a Political Leadership is to move the power to the people. And eventually, all power is for a prayer. All desire is to move towards divinity. And all energy is for Enlightenment.

Social Leadership:

A value that benefits many and not only a few. “A value is a difference of the cost of output and input.”

The whole world is one family. And everything is interconnected. There is nothing that lies outside the existence. The whole existence is a one unity. And this philosophy has been called by the ancients as “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”.

Spiritual Leadership:

A value that benefits everybody and everyone. “A value means now there is no difference and no gap.”

Spirituality has to be a social revolution. The mundane has to be spiritual, and the spiritual has to be mundane. It is not that what you do at home and the office is mundane, and what you do in the Ashram is sacred. Every mundane act has to be a divine act. This is Spiritual Leadership.

Leadership means to create a “value” that benefits the whole of humanity. And a leader is one who “shares” this value with the world. The value differs in each case. The value chain moves forward. It is just like how the raw gold moves from the state of a raw gold to the state of a 24-carat gold on the value chain. Spirituality is, therefore, an inner value chain. It is a process of moving from an ego-center to a conscious-center. The conscious center has a beginning but no end. It is endless and infinite.

Each person has his own liking for a particular leadership role. “Leaders are born and are not made”, is an old adage. People can be trained to become great leaders. A good leader is one who can create other great leaders. This is a new adage that is in. Leadership Poll is just to check and know your liking for a particular leadership role. Please choose your own true choice.

Leadership means to create a value that benefits the whole of humanity. And a true leader is one who shares this value with the people. Political Leadership means to give power to the people. It is an action to move the power to the people so that the common man has all the power. And this way it becomes a distributed leadership. As of now what happens is that the politician discounts the power and through his action and administration he passes on only a discounted power to the people. This process is very dangerous to true democracy and meritocracy. And if this is not checked from time to time, it may lead to an absolute power. And we all know that the absolute power corrupts absolutely. This absolute power could lead to the eventual death of a democracy. And meritocracy shall remain a far cry.

The art of Management and Leadership is to turn every difficulty into an opportunity. I think this is what the BJP has done out of the “Chaiwala” remarks uttered at the BJP leader Narendra Modi by a Congress Party MP. The BJP has strategically used this position to project their PM candidate as, “From a Tea vendor to a PM candidate”. And this situation has given rise to a new tea brand called “NaMo Tea”. And this brand will further be strenghtened after he becomes the PM.

I think that this “Chaiwala” barb will cost the Congress Party very heavily. I think the Congress Party Leadership should take necessary steps to avoid leaders who make such derogatory remarks. This remark may brand the Congress Party that it is not a party of the “Common Man”.

The “NaMo Mantra” must lead us towards building the nation on the platform of Truth, Trust, and Transparency. There is nothing wrong in taking a sip of the “NaMo Tea” that takes us towads good governance. There is every possibility that this “NaMo Mantra” may lead us towards “Om Namah Shivaya”.